Saturday, October 24, 2009
“Last King of Scotland” is the adaptation in cinemas of the drama novel describing Uganda’s dictator Idi Amin, “Forest Whitaker”, through the fictional story of a young Scottish doctor named Nicholas Garrigan, “James McAvoy”. 1970, Garrigan is freshly graduated from medical school in Scotland and rejects his father’s offer to join the family practice to pursue his idealistic ambition and seek a position in a Ugandan missionary clinic. Just arrived in Uganda, Garrigan meets Idi Amin by accident placing both characters head to head. Amin who has just seized power in a military coup sees in the young Scottish man the incarnation of a national opposition against Great Britain, while Garrigan gets struck by his charisma and pictures him as a modern reformist African leader matching the ideas he defended home in Scotland.
While the movie is mostly fiction, the portrait of Idi Amin is based on real events such as his talent to face the press and to spin facts to justify his actions. Garrigan’s character illustrates an independent opinion the director wants to be influenced by Idi Amin, the media footages and Dr. David Merrit from the missionary clinic. It is a vote of confidence when Garrigan accepts to be become Amin personal physician. While he quickly becomes closer to Amin, we learn more about the violence and executions happening in the country. Coming from the extremely violent and corrupted regime of Milton Obote that Amin defeated with his coup d’état, the opposition is perceived by Garrigan as an opposition to progress and democracy.
Forest Whitaker signs one of his best parts when slowly changing the character from the likable fair leader to the monster we get to discover through some of the worst atrocities Idi Amin ordered or even performed. Garrigan will learn to know Amin’s entourage and will realize his relation with his wives, other women and advisors is not as innocent and simple as he initially perceived. The movie is a decent to hell slowly exposing Amin’s regime crimes that killed over 300,000, but also shows a much more complex picture of the situation that Garrigan will not be ready to face until he realizes that the choice to leave or stay is not his anymore.
This is the first feature film from director Kevin McDonalds (”State of Play”) which, while still dominated by the actors performance, has the script and photography to be among the best movies of this decade.
Visste du att?
- Den svarta Mercedes-limousinen som syns i filmen är den faktiska bilen som användes av Idi Amin.
- Idi Amins fulla titel var: “His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”. Skriv det på ett visitkort du!
- Den första västerländska filmen som spelades in i Uganda sedan 1990s “Mississipi Masala“.
Se/köp den här
Gästbloggare: Nicolas Grasset är fransman (därav engelskan då den antagligen skulle bli läst av fler än om han skrev på franska) och bosatt i Sverige. Han är hjärnan bakom MovieZines tekniska plattform och är sedan tidigare känd som skaparen av Biotider.se. Innan han vid årsskiftet kom till MovieZine så jobbade han på Yahoo i San Francisco.